Slideshow: First Look at Payette Brewing's New Digs

Harrison Berry
Payette Brewing's new tasting room at its new facility near downtown.

In January, Payette Brewing gave local media a first look at its new brewing facility on River Street near downtown Boise. Almost four months later, on Friday, April 29, the 32,000-square-foot brewery's tasting room will be open to the public from 5-9 p.m.

While weeks' worth of work remains to be done before it will start producing beer on its own, Payette's tasting room was nearly ready to go the morning of April 28. It will feature 20 taps, loads of indoor seating and, once the grass is ready, a gigantic patio sandwiched between the Boise Greenbelt and what Payette Founder Mike Francis said will be a space where food trucks can park.

Francis gave a second nickel tour of the facility, showing off its new equipment and some of his favorite features, including a larger quality control space and an expanded walk-in refrigerator.

"We have a walk-in you could drive a forklift into," Francis said. "It may not sound like much, but you can store a lot more beer when you can stack it."

When it's all done, the new site will be a 60-barrel system capable of producing 40,000 barrels of Payette beer a year. Payette's original Garden City facility is a 15-barrel system that can produce 10,000 barrels per year. It will be used for extra brew capacity and making special, one-off beers.